[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23582-23583]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              AMERICA NEEDS MORE JOBS, NOT MORE GOVERNMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  A few days ago, the Labor Department released its monthly 
unemployment report. It was another month of bad news for unemployed 
Americans looking for work. In September, we lost 263,000 jobs and the 
unemployment rate rose to 9.8, a 26-year high. And, according to the 
Labor Department, the number of unemployed people now stands at 15.1 
million.
  This is an American tragedy. There are millions of breadwinners 
desperate for an opportunity to get back to work. But for far too many, 
these opportunities seem inaccessible. And Washington doesn't seem to 
get it.

[[Page 23583]]

  Instead, it's business as usual here in Washington. Borrow and spend 
is Washington's prescription for our ailing economy. But Americans know 
that we cannot borrow and spend our way into prosperity. We've tried 
that already--and it didn't work.
  Nevertheless, my Democrat colleagues insisted that passing a stimulus 
bill that borrowed another trillion dollars would create jobs 
``immediately'' and unemployment would not rise above 8 percent. The 
facts tell another, more discouraging story.
  More than 2.7 million jobs have been lost since the so-called 
stimulus was signed by President Obama. And the Labor Department keeps 
churning out these gloomy monthly unemployment reports. Today, there 
are about 12 million workers who would like to work full time but can't 
find a full-time job. U.S. auto sales plummeted in September and 
factory orders tumbled by the largest amount in 5 months.
  The American people know that a true economic recovery starts with 
tax relief for American families and small businesses and fiscal 
discipline in Washington. After all, if American families have to 
buckle down and trim their budgets, Washington should, too. We can't 
keep running $1.5 trillion deficits and expect economic growth as a 
result.
  House Republicans agree with the American people. Washington needs to 
rein in the runaway spending. For example, this week Congress is poised 
to pass an agriculture spending bill which includes a 14 percent 
increase in discretionary spending. There's plenty of good to be said 
about some of the spending in this bill, but its unrestrained increase 
in spending is emblematic of Washington's intractable, profligate 
habits.
  We can find a way to live within our means and create real incentives 
for employers to create jobs and get people back to work. How about 
using what remains of the stimulus money to create a jobs tax credit 
for employers who take risks and put Americans back to work?
  Such a tax credit could spur new job creation and help reinvigorate 
our battered economy. Plus, it keeps taxpayer money out of wasteful 
government programs and politicians' pet projects.
  Until we start to consider such real solutions to our jobs deficit, I 
will continue to oppose the Democrats' job-killing tax-and-spend 
policies and support real solutions to get the American people back to 
work.

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